Now that I had this, what did I have to fear?
7
Wearing Her Skin
Phonos & Daphne
One week later
For as long as I could remember, the Spire had been home. We Keres built our nests in its towering heights, so far above Asphodelia only the Moirae could ever reach us. Our Spire was beauty, freedom, and pride, wrapped into one. But I didn’t need any of it now.
As I lay in the dark, the crushing load of the Spire’s heart pressed down from above. It was a weight that could grind armies to dust, and it should have stifled me. But Daphne slept by my side, in our nest, and she was all the freedom I’d ever need.
I turned my head against the furs, taking in every line of her body with greed. In the dim light coming from her asphodel crown, she seemed to glow more brightly than any death crystal.
A fierce, possessive fire ignited in my chest. She was so beautiful. I didn’t know what I’d done to deserve her, but I’d happily spend an eternity earning the right to be her mate.
My thumb traced the delicate bones of her wrist. Sometimes, as much as I hated to admit it, I couldn’t help but feel that she was fragile, that I’d forced her into something she wasn’t quite ready for.
“I already made my choice,” she’d said the day of our bonding, and I wanted nothing more than to respect that. But a part of me wished I could have given her more time.
This place, this nest, was meant to be a sanctuary. A perfect, living space, shielded from the void. But could it be more?
A memory of the marketplace drifted to the forefront of my mind. She’d been intrigued at first, before the wall of noise and scent had forced me to pull her away. But there had been something there… Something I could give her.
Daphne didn’t need mortal food. No one in Asphodelia did. We were all sustained by Thanatos’s gift. But death-touched humans undoubtedly found this way of living strange, which was part of the reason the market even existed.
The thought of her tasting something sweet, something that bled juice and smelled of the sun... it was a simple, mortal pleasure I could give her. An experience, this time without the chaos.
I had to be careful not to wake her. I began to ease my hand from hers, replacing the pressure of my palm with a heavy fold of the fur blanket. The bond fluttered with her brief, sleepy sense of absence, a question mark in the dark. I pushed a wave of reassurance back down the line.Rest. I am still here.
She murmured something unintelligible, her body settling deeper into the nest. I rose silently and padded across the bare rock to the heavy wooden door. I paused at the threshold, looking back. She was a small shape in the vastness of our nest, but she filled my entire world.
I slipped out into the corridor, the soft click of the latch sealing the peace behind me.
The staircase greeted me with its familiar, rough-hewn lines. I hadn’t quite gotten the chance to put the finishing touches to our home, but that was all right. Daphne didn’t seem to mind, and we had all the time in the world to make adjustments. I wasn’t impatient any longer, not now that I had Daphne.
My sisters weren’t quite as lucky as I was. When I got to the ground floor, I found them waiting for me, visibly keyed up. “You have buried us deep, brother,” Alecto commented. “The wind screams for you up in the aerie, and yet... you hide here in the roots.”
“I do not hide, Alecto. I build.”
Megaera pushed off from the opposite wall and smiled, the curl of her lips softening Alecto’s sharper words. “We know that, Phonos. And we’re happy for you, for your bond. But allow us this one selfishness. We miss you.”
It wasn’t precisely an accusation, only a kind reminder. Since our mother’s unweaving, we’d become closer than ever. The pulse of her energy flowed through our veins, tightening our bond. They’d suffered every second of my confusion and my anxiety alongside me. It stood to reason that they’d want to share in my happiness.
“I’m trying to give Daphne a little more time to adjust. But I’ll remember to take her out of the nest more often. How’s that?”
“You know her best, brother,” Megaera replied. “Don’t push her, or yourself. We’ll be here, regardless.”
“I have to say, I’m a little jealous,” Alecto drawled. “The digging was worth it. We were worried the rock would stifle you, but you seem... settled.”
I gave her a single, sharp nod. “I am. Far more than I thought was possible.”
Alecto grinned, a flash of sharp, white teeth against the shadows. “Good. And your mate is perfect for you. Just like we knew she’d be. I—“
A dissonant chord struck the very weave of the Spire, cutting my sister off mid-sentence. Mist, white and cold, began to coil up from the bare rock, swirling in the center of the corridor into a churning vortex.
Megaera stiffened, her feathers sharpening into metallic points. “It… It can’t be.”
